Chapter Forty-Five: Debt Collection at the Door

A hopeful light shone in Li Yi’s eyes as he made a solemn vow, “Baldy, I’ll definitely pay you back by Sunday. My cousin and my uncle both promised to help.”
The big bald man spread his hands, “That’s no use telling me. I’ve given you a chance, but you need a guarantor. I only recognize black and white on paper.”
Li Yi could only look again at Lin Yufei, his pleading gaze silently saying that if she didn’t help him, no one would. Lin Yufei was torn. She bit her lip. “Are you sure you can pay it back by Sunday?”
Li Yi nodded emphatically, “Yufei, tell me, when have I ever lied to you?”
That sentence shattered the last defense in Lin Yufei’s heart. Indeed, since they’d confirmed their relationship, Li Yi had always seemed honest and reliable—a far cry from the gamblers she’d heard about, men with no scruples or conscience. In her eyes, Li Yi was a man of character.
But she didn’t know that when a gambler reaches a dead end, no matter their usual reputation, they all reveal the same nature: their bottom line vanishes.
“All right, I’ll guarantee for you. If you betray me, I’ll admit I was blind.” In the end, Lin Yufei was persuaded by Li Yi—or perhaps, she persuaded herself.
Li Yi borrowed two hundred thousand, with twenty thousand interest. The IOU for two hundred and twenty thousand doubled to four hundred and forty thousand, and with Lin Yufei’s double guarantee, it became eight hundred and eighty thousand. The number looked lucky, but to Lin Yufei, it was a glaring threat. She may have convinced herself for a moment, but her instincts remained sharp. Her hand shook as she signed, her eyelids twitched, and unease filled her heart.
“Miss Lin, you’re Young Master Lin’s cousin. I have complete faith in you. Tomorrow’s the weekend and I’ll be busy, so there’s no need for another meeting. Just transfer the money to the account on the IOU. If you ever need anything, call me anytime. If it’s not much, you won’t even need to write an IOU...” The bald man tucked away the guarantee Lin Yufei wrote, said a few more polite but empty words, and left with his lackey.
“Li Yi, what am I supposed to do now?” The moment they left, Lin Yufei’s face was covered in worry. Li Yi glanced at her lost and helpless expression, a flicker of something complicated passing through his eyes, and then he launched into a string of empty, comforting words.
When it was time to leave, Lin Yufei felt a little better. Li Yi’s words might have been hollow, but they were pleasant to hear. At least she wasn’t enduring this alone—she had a boyfriend sharing the burden. That counted as weathering the storm together, didn’t it?
He walked her to the bus station, waving as the bus pulled away. Then Li Yi took out his phone and dialed, “Brother Lin, it’s done.”
Lin Huihuang chuckled, “Li Yi, honestly, I admire you. I really do. Yufei is, after all, a campus beauty. You’ve got a girlfriend anyone would die for, and yet you’re ruthless enough to do this.”
Li Yi scoffed, “It’s not that I’m ruthless. She’s just so dull. We’ve been together almost half a year and she only lets me hold her hand. She’s always making a fuss over everything. I’m not interested in playing Plato with her. Lately, a high school classmate has been after me—she’s just as good-looking, much better tempered. Even if this hadn’t happened, I was planning to break it off.”
Switching topics, he asked, “When will I get my money?”
Lin Huihuang’s voice turned businesslike. “The forty-six thousand you owed me is written off. I’ll transfer you four thousand in a bit. As for the remaining fifty thousand, whenever the big boss pays, that’s when you’ll get it. No reason I should pay out of pocket first. Don’t worry—the boss is worth over a hundred million. As long as you deliver, you’ll get every cent.”
Li Yi wasn’t pleased but knew arguing would do no good. He replied reluctantly, “All right, just don’t drag it out. I’ve lost a lot lately, you know that.”
“Don’t worry, I handle things.”

On the other end, Lin Huihuang hung up and quickly dialed Chen Feiyang. “Mr. Chen, everything’s settled on my end. The rest is up to you.”
Chen Feiyang chuckled and replied, “I’m aware.”
...
Saturday arrived, and Lin Yufei, unusually, didn’t go out. She locked herself in her room all day, emerging only for meals.
Even she didn’t know how the day passed. Dozens of times she almost confessed to her family, but every time she lacked the courage.
By ten that night, the bald man still hadn’t called. She felt an inexplicable relief, staring at her phone with a conflicted gaze. After a long moment, she steeled herself and turned it off.
“I’ll get through tonight and face tomorrow’s sun,” she told herself, climbing into bed and burrowing under the covers. She tried to sleep, but her mind was a chaotic mess.
Time slipped by. The world outside was quiet, only three or four apartments across the street still glowed with light.
“Ding dong, ding dong!”
The doorbell rang, clear and pleasant in the night, but to Lin Yufei it sounded like a death knell. She bolted upright, blood pounding in her head, nerves stretched taut.
She slipped out of bed, tiptoed to the door, and pressed her ear to it. The bell rang seven or eight times before a door opened and Lin Yuangui called out, “Who’s there?”
“Is Lin Yufei home?”
A deep, slightly hoarse voice replied—it was the bald man. Lin Yufei shuddered, collapsing to the floor, her eyes staring blankly at the dark ceiling as tears streamed down her face.
In the living room, the lights came on. Lin Yuangui opened the door, peering through the iron gate at a bald man and a stout woman. His brows furrowed. “Who are you people?”
“Doesn’t matter who we are. Either call Lin Yufei out, or let us come in and find her. Lin Yufei, you little tramp! How dare you turn off your phone—get out here!”
The stout woman suddenly erupted, eyes glaring, voice booming. Lin Yuangui was stunned and his face darkened. At that moment, Shen Huifang rushed over, already in a foul mood. She shouted back, “Where did you crazies come from, making noise in the middle of the night? Yuangui, call the police!”
“Call the police? Go ahead, do it! The first one they’ll arrest is Lin Yufei, that little tramp!” The stout woman was unruffled, hands on her thick waist, neck bulging, face red—an image of defiant vulgarity.
Lin Yuxin emerged from her room in a cotton robe, her face cold, eyes locking on the stout woman. Her voice was low but every word crisp, “It’s late. Everyone’s asleep. Keep your voice down and speak properly. Scream one more time and I’m calling the police.”
Perhaps it was Lin Yuxin’s beauty, or her imposing presence, but the stout woman was taken aback and her voice dropped, though her attitude remained fierce, “You’re all her family, so I’ll tell you—Lin Yufei owes us money. Yesterday was the deadline. Now it’s past midnight and her phone’s off. What’s that supposed to mean? Owe money and don’t want to pay?”

Upon hearing this, Lin Yuangui and his wife’s faces registered shock. Lin Yuxin’s expression changed too, but she stayed calm. “How much does she owe? Do you have a contract?”
The stout woman was about to answer when the bald man waved her off, then pulled a photocopy from his pocket and slid it through the iron gate, his eyes roaming over Lin Yuxin with an unmistakable look of lust and greed.
Lin Yuxin took the copy and began reading. Lin Yuangui and Shen Huifang crowded around. When they saw the string of zeroes after the three, Shen Huifang’s pupils shrank to pinpoints and she shrieked, “How could Yufei possibly owe you three hundred thousand? This IOU is fake!”
The bald man’s face hardened. “Not three hundred thousand—three million. Look closely. There’s not just Lin Yufei’s signature but her thumbprint too.”
Boom!
Three million—Shen Huifang heard only that number; the rest was lost on her. She stood there as if struck by lightning, utterly stunned. Lin Yuangui fared a little better, but his face turned ashen as he stared blankly.
Lin Yuxin’s hands trembled, her heart shuddered. No matter how she masked it, her face turned visibly pale. Holding her forehead, she took a deep breath and walked to Lin Yufei’s room. She turned the handle—it was locked. She raised her fist and knocked hard.
The stout woman tried to speak, but the bald man stopped her again.
After ten seconds, the door finally opened. Lin Yufei stood there, tears in her eyes, head bowed.
Lin Yuxin thrust the document in front of her, voice cold, “Is this IOU yours?”
Lin Yufei glanced at it, dropped her head even lower, and whispered, barely audible, “Yes.”
Slap!
The crack of a slap echoed through the silent night, followed by Lin Yuxin’s icy, sharp voice, “What have you done? Do you want the whole family to jump off a building with you?”
To fill the gap in that million-yuan bill, Lin Yuxin had racked her brains all week. She insisted her mother return the hundred thousand Hong Chen gave, and scraped together fifty thousand herself from savings and credit cards. For the remaining four hundred thousand, she took out a loan online and another personal loan. The approval had only come yesterday; she’d barely managed to cover the sum and was now drowning in debt and exhaustion.
Who could have imagined that just as she thought she’d survived, a sum three times greater would fall from the sky?
Lin Yuxin, usually so resilient and composed, now felt a crushing weight she simply could not bear. A tide of negative emotions surged, impossible to control.
In her fury, she slapped Lin Yufei. It was the first time she’d ever hit her sister, and tears sprang to her own eyes as well.